Only Academic Calendar Proposal B satisfies the faculty’s desire for a longer break between semesters and students’ desire not to extend spring semester into mid-May.

Faculty need a longer semester break to prepare for large courses and to attend professional teaching and research meetings that are often held in the first half of January when most other universities are not in session. In the department of physics and astronomy, some faculty members normally have to find substitutes during the first week of spring semester to attend the Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers and various other professional meetings. I think it is unfair for students — sometimes hundreds of them just in our department — not to meet their instructors during the crucial first week of classes, but it is unavoidable under the current calendar (A).

Last spring, both faculty and students participating in an online poll voted overwhelmingly for Calendar B over Calendar A. Personally, I would prefer to see the present calendar shifted one week later in the spring (matching the calendar at the University of Iowa), but given the choice between only proposals A and B, I will strongly support B.

Laurent Hodges

Professor

Physics and Astronomy